Charles Lindbergh | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh Signature Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), nicknamed Slim, [1] Lucky Lindy, and The Lone Eagle, was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist. As a 25-year-old U.S. Air Mail pilot, Lindbergh emerged suddenly from virtual obscurity to instantaneous world fame as the result of his Orteig Prize -winning solo non-stop flight on May 20–21, 1927, made from Roosevelt Field [N 1] in Garden City on New York's Long Island to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France, a distance of nearly 3,600 statute miles (5,800 km), in the single-seat, single-engine purpose-built Ryan monoplane Spirit of St. Louis . As a result of this flight Lindbergh was the first person in history to be in New York one day and Paris the next. Lindbergh, a U.S.

Army Air Corps Reserve officer, was also awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor , for his historic exploit. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Lindbergh used his fame to promote the development of both commercial aviation and Air Mail services in the United States and the Americas. In March 1932, his infant son, Charles, Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in what was soon dubbed the "Crime of the Century" . It was described by journalist H.L. Mencken, as "... the biggest story since the resurrection." [2] The kidnapping eventually led to the Lindbergh family being "driven into voluntary exile" in Europe to which they sailed in secrecy from New York under assumed names in late December 1935 to "seek a safe, secluded residence away from the tremendous public hysteria" in America. The Lindberghs returned to the United States in April 1939. Before the United States formally entered World War II , Lindbergh had been an outspoken advocate of keeping the U.S. out of the world conflict, as had his father, Congressman Charles August Lindbergh , during World War I .

Although Lindbergh was a leader in the anti-war America First movement, he nevertheless strongly supported the war effort after Pearl Harbor and flew many combat missions in the Pacific Theater of World War II as a civilian consultant even though President Franklin D. Roosevelt had refused to reinstate his Army Air Corps colonel's commission that he had resigned in April 1941. In his later years, Lindbergh became a prolific prize-winning author, international explorer, inventor, and environmentalist. Contents Edit Charles A. Lindbergh: son and father c. 1910 Although born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 4, 1902, Charles Agustus Lindbergh spent most of his childhood in Little Falls, Minnesota , and Washington, D.C.. He was the third child of Swedish immigrant Charles August Lindbergh ( birth name Carl Månsson) (1859–1924), and only child of his second wife, Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh (1876–1954), of Detroit although the Lindberghs separated in 1909 when their son was seven. [3] Lindbergh's father, a U.S.

Congressman (R-Minnesota (6th)) from 1907 to 1917, was one of just fifty House members to vote against (373-50) the entry of the U.S. into World War I. [4] Mrs. Lindbergh was a chemistry teacher at Cass Technical High School in Detroit and later at Little Falls High School from which her son graduated on June 5, 1918. Lindbergh also attended over a dozen other schools from Washington, D.C., to California during his childhood and teenage years (none for more than a year or two), including the Force School and Sidwell Friends School while living in Washington with his father, and Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California while living there with his mother. [5] Although he enrolled in the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in late 1920, Lindbergh dropped out in the middle of his sophomore year and headed for Lincoln, Nebraska, in March 1922 to begin flight training.

[6] Early aviation career Edit From an early age Charles Lindbergh had exhibited an interest in the mechanics of motorized transportation, including his family's Saxon Six automobile, and later his Excelsior motorbike. By the time he started college as a mechanical engineering student he had also become fascinated with flying even though he "had never been close enough to a plane to touch it." [7] After quitting college in February 1922, Lindbergh enrolled as a student at the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation's flying school in Lincoln two months later and flew for the first time in his life on April 9, 1922, when he took to the air as a passenger in a two-seat Lincoln Standard "Tourabout" biplane trainer piloted by Otto Timm . [8] Edit CAM-2 first flight cover (April 15, 1926) In October 1925, Lindbergh was hired by the Robertson Aircraft Corporation (RAC) in St.

Louis (where he had been working as a flight instructor) to first lay out, and then serve as chief pilot for the newly designated 278-mile (447 km) Contract Air Mail Route #2 (CAM-2) to provide service between St. Louis and Chicago (Maywood Field) with two intermediate stops in Springfield and Peoria, Illinois. [25] Operating from RAC's home base at the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field in Anglum, Missouri, Lindbergh and three other RAC pilots, Philip R. Love, Thomas P. Nelson, and Harlan A. "Bud" Gurney, flew the mail over CAM-2 in a fleet of four modified war surplus de Havilland DH-4 biplanes. Lindbergh's copy of a CAM-2 "Weekly Postage Report" for the week of February 6–12, 1927 Two days before he opened service on the route on April 15, 1926, with its first early morning southbound flight from Chicago to St. Louis, Lindbergh officially became authorized to be entrusted with the "care, custody, and conveyance" of U.S.

Mails by formally subscribing and swearing to the Post Office Department's 1874 Oath of Mail Messengers. [26] Twice during the ten months that he flew CAM-2, Lindbergh would be called upon to exhibit his faithfulness to that oath after temporarily losing custody and control of mails that he was transporting when he was forced to bail out of his mail plane owing to bad weather, equipment problems, and/or fuel exhaustion. [27] [28] In the two incidents, which both occurred while he was approaching Chicago at night, Lindbergh came down by parachute near small farming communities in northeastern Illinois. On September 16, 1926, he came down about 60 miles (97 km) southwest of Chicago near the town of Wedron , [29] while six weeks later, on November 3, 1926, Lindbergh bailed out again about 70 miles (110 km) further south hitting the ground in another farm field west of the city of Bloomington near the town of Covell.

[30] After landing without serious injury on both occasions, Lindbergh's first concern was to immediately locate the wreckage of his crashed mail planes, make sure that the bags of mail were promptly secured and salvaged, and then see that they were entrained or trucked on to Chicago with as little delay as possible. [28] [31] Lindbergh continued on as chief pilot of CAM-2 until mid-February 1927, when he left for San Diego, California, to oversee the design and construction of the Spirit of St. Louis. [32] A rare surviving B.L. Rowe corner cover flown in the Spirit of St. Louis from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince and Havana (February 6–8, 1928) Although Lindbergh never returned to service as a regular U.S. Air Mail pilot, he used the immense fame that his New York to Paris flight brought him to help promote the use of the U.S. Air Mail Service. While he carried no official mail in the Spirit to Paris or during the subsequent three month, 48-state Guggenheim Tour, at the request of Capt. Basil L.

Rowe, the owner and chief pilot of West Indian Aerial Express (later Pan Am's chief pilot as well) and a fellow Air Mail pioneer and advocate, in February 1928, Lindbergh carried a small amount (about 3,000 pieces) of special souvenir mail between Santo Domingo, R.D., Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Havana, Cuba in the Spirit of St. Louis. [33] These rare Lindbergh flown "Good Will Tour" covers remain very highly prized by collectors of Air Mail postal history especially as many of the Port-au-Prince to Havana covers were later destroyed during a hurricane that struck Havana in 1931. [34] Those cities were the last three stops that he and the Spirit made during their 7,800-mile (12,600 km) "Good Will Tour" of Latin America and the Caribbean between December 13, 1927, and February 8, 1928. [35] The final two legs of the 48-day tour were also the only flights on which officially sanctioned, postally franked mail was ever carried in the Spirit of St. Louis.

[36] Lindbergh autographed USPOD penalty cover with C-10 flown by him over CAM-2 on February 21–22, 1928 Exactly two weeks after completing his Latin American tour, Lindbergh "returned" to flying CAM-2 for two days so that he could pilot a series of special flights over his old route on February 20 (northbound) and February 21 (southbound). Known as "Horseshoe Mail" because each piece received a rubber stamp cachet of a large horseshoe with the legend "LINDBERGH AGAIN FLIES THE AIR MAIL" and "CHICAGO ST. LOUIS C.A.M. 2", there was such huge demand for covers carried on these flights that three mailplanes were used to fly it between St. Louis to Chicago that were flown by Lindbergh and fellow CAM-2 pilots Thomas Nelson, Philip Love, Bud Gurney, E.L. Sloniger and L.H. Smith. At each stop on the route Lindbergh switched planes so it could be said that he flew each one of the tens of thousands of self-addressed souvenir covers sent in from all over the nation and the world.

After being flown the covers were backstamped and returned to their senders as a further means to promote awareness and the use of the Air Mail Service. [37] In 1929-31 Lindbergh carried much smaller numbers of souvenir covers on the first flights over routes in Latin America and the Caribbean which he had earlier laid out as a consultant to Pan American Airways to be then flown under contract to the Post Office Department as Foreign Air Mail (FAM) routes 5 and 6. These covers and other artifacts associated with or carried on flights piloted by Lindbergh are still actively collected under the general designation of "Lindberghiana." [38] The Orteig Prize, Spirit of St. Louis, and New York-Paris flight File:CharlesLindbergh22.jpg Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) was the daughter of Dwight Morrow who, as partner at J.P. Morgan & Co. , had acted as financial adviser to Lindbergh and who had been appointed U.S. Ambassador to Mexico in 1927.

Lindbergh was invited by Morrow on a goodwill tour to Mexico, and he met Anne in Mexico City in December 1927. The couple were married on May 27, 1929, and had six children: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. (1930–1932); Jon Morrow Lindbergh (b. August 16, 1932); Land Morrow Lindbergh (b. 1937), who studied anthropology at Stanford University and married Susan Miller in San Diego; Anne Lindbergh (1940–1993); Scott Lindbergh (b. 1942); and Reeve Lindbergh (b. 1945), a writer. Lindbergh also taught his wife how to fly and did much of his exploring and charting of air routes with her. Lindbergh saw his children for only a couple of months a year. He kept track of each child’s infractions, which included such activities as gum-chewing. He insisted that Anne track all her household expenditures, including even 15 cents spent for rubber bands, in account books.

[76] According to a Biography Channel profile on Lindbergh, she was the only woman who he had ever asked out on a date. In Lindbergh's autobiography, he derides womanizing pilots he met as "barnstormers," and Army cadets for their "facile" approach to relationships. Lindbergh wrote that the ideal romance was stable and long term, with a woman with keen intellect, good health, and strong genes. [77] Lindbergh said his "experience in breeding animals on our farm had taught me the importance of good heredity." [78] Twenty-nine years after Lindbergh's 1974 death, the largest national daily newspaper in Germany, Munich's Suddeutsche Zeitung , reported in late July 2003 that he had fathered three out-of-wedlock children by German hat maker Brigitte Hesshaimer (1926–2003) who had lived in the small Bavarian town of Geretsried just south of Munich. [79] By the time of the publication of German biographer Rudolf Schröck's book Das Doppelleben des Charles A.

Lindbergh (The Double Life of Charles A. Lindbergh) two years later, however, it had been further revealed that Lindbergh had also fathered four other out-of-wedlock children in Germany and Switzerland with two other mistresses. [80] [81] Beginning in March 1957 Lindbergh had established romantic relationships with Brigitte Hesshaimer, her sister, Mariette, a painter living in Grimisuat in the Swiss canton Valais with whom he had two children, and with Valeska, an East Prussian aristocrat who was his private secretary in Europe and lived in Baden-Baden with whom he had two more children, a son born in 1959 and a daughter in 1961. All seven childred had been born between 1958 and 1967. [82] Ten days before he died on August 26, 1974, Lindbergh wrote letters from his New York hospital bed to each of his three European mistresses imploring them to maintain the "utmost secrecy" about their relationships after his death.

[83] The three women (none of whom ever married) all managed to keep their affairs secret even from their children who during his lifetime (and for almost a decade after) did not know the true identity of their father whom they had only known by the alias "Careu Kent" and seen only when he visited for a few days once or twice per year. However after finding and reading a magazine article about Lindbergh in the mid-1980s, Brigitte's daughter Astrid learned her father's true identity and later discovered snapshots and more than a 150 love letters written to her mother by Lindbergh between 1957 and 1974. After both Brigitte and Anne Morrow Lindbergh had both died, Astrid finally publicly disclosed who her brothers' and her father was. On November 23, 2003, DNA tests confirmed that Lindbergh had fathered Dyrk, Astrid and David, Brigitte's three children, .

[82] [84] In April 2008, Reeve Lindbergh, his youngest child with his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, published Forward From Here: Leaving Middle Age and Other Unexpected Adventures, a book of essays that includes her learning in late July 2003 the truth about her father's secret European families and writing in her personal journal on August 8, 2003 that "This story reflects absolutely Byzantine layers of deception on the part of our shared father. These children did not even know who he was! He used a pseudonym with them (To protect them, perhaps? To protect himself, absolutely!)" A year later she traveled to Europe to meet all seven of her half siblings and understand an expanded meaning of family.

[85] "The Crime of the Century" Main article: Lindbergh kidnapping The "wanted" poster In what came to be referred to sensationally by the press of the time as "The Crime of the Century", on the evening of March 1, 1932, 20-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was abducted by an intruder from his crib in the second-story nursery of his family's rural home in East Amwell, New Jersey near the town of Hopewell . [N 6] While a 10-week nationwide search for the child was being undertaken, ransom negotiations were also conducted simultaneously with a self-identified kidnapper by a volunteer intermediary, Dr. John F. Condon (aka "Jafsie"). [87] These resulted in the payment on April 2 of $50,000 in cash, part of which was made in soon-to-be withdrawn (and thus more easily traceable) Gold certificates the serial numbers of which had been recorded, in exchange for information about the child's whereabouts that proved to be false.

The child's remains were found by chance by a passing truckdriver six weeks later on May 12 in roadside woodlands near Mount Rose, New Jersey. In response to the highly publicized crime, Congress passed the so-called "Lindbergh Law" on June 13, which made kidnapping a federal offense under certain circumstances. Known formally as the "Federal Kidnapping Act of 1932" ( 18 U.S.C. § 1201 (a)(1) ), the new statute provided for federal jurisdiction over all future kidnappings in which any victim(s) were taken across state lines and/or (as had occurred in the Lindbergh case) the kidnapper(s) used "the mail or any means, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in committing or in furtherance of the commission of the offense", including as a means to demand a ransom.

[88] Lindbergh testifies at the Hauptmann trial in 1935 The assiduous tracing of the serial numbers of $10 and $20 Gold certificates passed in the New York City area over the next year and a half eventually led police to Bruno Richard Hauptmann , a 34-year-old German immigrant carpenter, who was arrested near his home in The Bronx, New York, on September 19, 1934. (Hauptmann was identified by the license plate number of his automobile, which a gas station attendant had written on the bill after receiving it from him in payment for services.) A stash containing $13,760 of the ransom money was subsequently found hidden in his garage. Charged with kidnapping, extortion, and first-degree murder, Hauptmann went on trial in a circus-like atmosphere in Flemington, New Jersey , on January 2, 1935. Six weeks later he was convicted on all counts when, following 11 hours of deliberation, the jury delivered its verdict late on the night of February 13, after which trial judge Thomas Trenchard immediately sentenced Hauptmann to death.

[89] Although he continued to adamantly maintain his innocence, all of Hauptmann's appeals and petitions for clemency were rejected by early December 1935. [90] Despite a last-minute attempt by New Jersey Governor Harold G. Hoffman (who believed Hauptmann was guilty but had always expressed doubts that he could have acted alone) to convince him to confess to the crimes in exchange for getting his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, the by then 36-year-old Hauptmann refused and was electrocuted at Trenton State Prison on April 3, 1936. [91] Self exile in Europe (1936–1939) Edit At the urging of U.S. Ambassador Joseph Kennedy , Lindbergh wrote a secret memo to the British warning that if Britain and France responded militarily to German dictator Adolf Hitler 's violation of the Munich Agreement in 1938, it would be suicide. Lindbergh stated that France's military strength was inadequate and that Britain had an outdated military over-reliance upon naval power.

He recommended they urgently strengthen their air arsenal in order to force Hitler to turn his ambitions eastward to a war against "Asiatic Communism." [119] In a controversial 1939 Reader's Digest article, Lindbergh said, "Our civilization depends on peace among Western nations ... and therefore on united strength, for Peace is a virgin who dare not show her face without Strength, her father, for protection." [120] [121] Lindbergh deplored the rivalry between Germany and Britain but favored a war between Germany and Russia. There is some controversy as to how accurate his reports concerning the Luftwaffe were, but Cole reports the consensus among British and American officials was that they were slightly exaggerated but badly needed. [119] "America First" involvement Edit In late 1940, he became spokesman of the antiwar America First Committee . [122] He soon became its most prominent public spokesman, speaking to overflowing crowds in Madison Square Garden in New York City and Soldier Field in Chicago. His speeches were heard by millions. During this time, Lindbergh lived in Lloyd Neck , on Long Island, New York.

Lindbergh argued that America did not have any business attacking Germany and believed in upholding the Monroe Doctrine, which his interventionist rivals felt was outdated. In his autobiography he wrote: “ I was deeply concerned that the potentially gigantic power of America, guided by uninformed and impractical idealism, might crusade into Europe to destroy Hitler without realizing that Hitler's destruction would lay Europe open to the rape, loot and barbarism of Soviet Russia's forces, causing possibly the fatal wounding of western civilization. [123] ” Charles Lindbergh speaking at an AFC rally In his January 23, 1941, testimony in opposition to the Lend-Lease Bill before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs , Lindbergh proposed that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Germany. [124] President Roosevelt publicly criticized Lindbergh's views on neutrality three months later during a White House press conference on April 25, 1941, as being those of a "defeatist and appeaser" and compared him to U.S. Rep. Clement L. Vallandigham (D-OH), the leader of the "Copperhead" movement that had opposed the American Civil War .

Three days later Lindbergh resigned his commission as a colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps in an April 28 letter to the President in which he said that he could find "no honorable alternative" to his taking such an action after Roosevelt had publicly questioned his loyalty. [125] In a speech at an America First rally at the Des Moines Coliseum on September 11, 1941, "Who Are the War Agitators?", Lindbergh claimed the three groups, "pressing this country toward war [are] the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt Administration" and said of Jewish groups, “ Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way for they will be among the first to feel its consequences. Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation. [126] ” In the speech, he warned of the Jewish people's "large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government".

He went on to condemn Nazi Germany's antisemitism: "No person with a sense of the dignity of mankind can condone the persecution of the Jewish race in Germany." Lindbergh declared, “ I am not attacking either the Jewish or the British people. Both races, I admire. But I am saying that the leaders of both the British and the Jewish races, for reasons which are as understandable from their viewpoint as they are inadvisable from ours, for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in the war. We cannot blame them for looking out for what they believe to be their own interests, but we also must look out for ours. We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples to lead our country to destruction. [127] ” The speech was heavily criticized as being anti-Semitic. [128] In response Lindbergh stated again he was not anti-Semitic, but he did not back away from his statements. Lindbergh's wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh had concerns about the reaction to the speech and how it would affect his reputation, wrongfully in her view. From her diary: “ ...

I have the greatest faith in [Lindbergh] as a person — in his integrity, his courage, and his essential goodness, fairness, and kindness — his nobility really ... How then explain my profound feeling of grief about what he is doing? If what he said is the truth (and I am inclined to think it is), why was it wrong to state it? He was naming the groups that were pro-war. No one minds his naming the British or the Administration. But to name "Jew" is un-American — even if it is done without hate or even criticism. Why? [129] ” Interventionists created pamphlets pointing out his efforts were praised in Nazi Germany and included quotations such as "Racial strength is vital; politics, a luxury". They included pictures of him and other America Firsters using the stiff-armed Bellamy salute (a hand gesture described by Francis Bellamy to accompany his Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag); the photos were taken from an angle not showing the flag, so to observers it was indistinguishable from the Hitler salute . [130] President Franklin D.

Roosevelt disliked Lindbergh's outspoken opposition to intervention and his administration's policies, such as the Lend-Lease Act, and said to Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau in May 1940, "if I should die tomorrow, I want you to know this, I am absolutely convinced Lindbergh is a Nazi." [131] FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, on his own authority, began to investigate Lindbergh's personal life. Hoover had his agents look for anything that might discredit Lindbergh's reputation, such as information purporting that during Prohibition, Lindbergh had bootlegged whiskey in Montana and had consorted with pimps and prostitutes. While not ordering the FBI to look into Lindbergh, Roosevelt all the same did not complain about Hoover's efforts. [132] Thoughts on race and racism Edit Lindbergh elucidated his beliefs about the white race in an article he published in Reader's Digest in 1939: We can have peace and security only so long as we band together to preserve that most priceless possession, our inheritance of European blood, only so long as we guard ourselves against attack by foreign armies and dilution by foreign races.

[133] Because of his trips to Nazi Germany, combined with a belief in eugenics, [134] Lindbergh was suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer. Lindbergh's reaction to Kristallnacht was entrusted to his diary: "I do not understand these riots on the part of the Germans," he wrote. "It seems so contrary to their sense of order and intelligence. They have undoubtedly had a difficult ' Jewish problem ,' but why is it necessary to handle it so unreasonably?" [135] Lindbergh had planned to move to Berlin for the winter of 1938–39, after Kristallnacht , a time when many Americans reacted with revulsion at Nazi barbarism. He had provisionally found a house in Wannsee , but after Nazi friends discouraged him from leasing it because it had been formerly owned by Jews, [136] it was recommended that he contact Albert Speer who said he would build the Lindberghs a house anywhere they wanted. On the advice of his close friend the eugenicist Alexis Carrel, he cancelled the trip.

[136] In his diaries, he wrote: "We must limit to a reasonable amount the Jewish influence ... Whenever the Jewish percentage of total population becomes too high, a reaction seems to invariably occur. It is too bad because a few Jews of the right type are, I believe, an asset to any country." Lindbergh's anti-communism resonated deeply with many Americans, while eugenics and Nordicism enjoyed social acceptance. [121] Although Lindbergh considered Hitler a fanatic and avowed a belief in American democracy, [137] [138] he clearly stated elsewhere that he believed the survival of the white race was more important than the survival of democracy in Europe: "Our bond with Europe is one of race and not of political ideology," he declared. [139] Critics have noticed an apparent influence of German philosopher Oswald Spengler on Lindbergh. [140] Spengler was a conservative authoritarian and during the interwar era , was widely read throughout Western World, though by this point he had fallen out of favor with the Nazis because he had not wholly subscribed to their theories of racial purity.

[140] File:Fordslindbergh.jpg Lindbergh developed a long-term friendship with the automobile pioneer Henry Ford , who was well known for his anti-Semitic newspaper The Dearborn Independent . In a famous comment about Lindbergh to Detroit's former FBI field office special agent in charge in July 1940, Ford said: "When Charles comes out here, we only talk about the Jews." [141] [142] Lindbergh considered Russia to be a "semi-Asiatic" country compared to Germany, and he found Communism to be an ideology that would destroy the West's "racial strength" and replace everyone of European descent with "a pressing sea of Yellow, Black, and Brown." He stated that if he had to choose, he would rather see America allied with Nazi Germany than Soviet Russia. He preferred Nordics , but he believed, after Soviet Communism was defeated, Russia would be a valuable ally against potential aggression from East Asia.

[140] [143] Lindbergh said certain races have "demonstrated superior ability in the design, manufacture, and operation of machines." [144] He further said, "The growth of our western civilization has been closely related to this superiority." [145] Lindbergh admired "the German genius for science and organization, the English genius for government and commerce, the French genius for living and the understanding of life." He believed that "in America they can be blended to form the greatest genius of all."[ citation needed ] His message was popular throughout many Northern communities and especially well received in the Midwest, while the American South was Anglophilic and supported a pro-British foreign policy. [146] The South was the most pro-British and interventionist part of the country. [147] Holocaust researcher and investigative journalist Max Wallace in his book, The American Axis , agreed with Franklin Roosevelt's assessment that Lindbergh was "pro-Nazi." Wallace finds the Roosevelt Administration's accusations of dual loyalty or treason as unsubstantiated.

Wallace considers Lindbergh a well-intentioned, but bigoted and misguided, Nazi sympathizer whose career as the leader of the isolationist movement had a destructive impact on Jewish people. [148] Lindbergh's Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, A. Scott Berg , contends Lindbergh was not so much a supporter of the Nazi regime as someone so stubborn in his convictions and relatively inexperienced in political maneuvering that he easily allowed rivals to portray him as one. Lindbergh's receipt of the German medal was approved without objection by the American embassy; the war had not yet begun in Europe. The award did not cause controversy until the war began and Lindbergh returned to the United States in 1939 to spread his message of non-intervention. Berg contends Lindbergh's views were commonplace in the United States in the pre–World War II era. Lindbergh's support for the America First Committee was representative of the sentiments of a number of American people. [138] Yet Berg also notes that "As late as April 1939 – after Germany overtook Czechoslovakia – Lindbergh was willing to make excuses for Hitler.

'Much as I disapprove of many things Hitler had done,' he wrote in his diary on April 2, 1939, 'I believe she [Germany] has pursued the only consistent policy in Europe in recent years. I cannot support her broken promises, but she has only moved a little faster than other nations ... in breaking promises. The question of right and wrong is one thing by law and another thing by history.'" Berg also explains that leading up to the war, in Lindbergh's mind, the great battle would be between the Soviet Union and Germany, not fascism and democracy. Wallace noted that it was difficult to find social scientists among Lindbergh's contemporaries in the 1930s who found validity in racial explanations for human behavior. Wallace went on to observe that "throughout his life, eugenics would remain one of Lindbergh's enduring passions." [149] In Pat Buchanan 's book A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny , he portrays Lindbergh and other pre-war isolationists as American patriots who were smeared by interventionists during the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor .

Buchanan suggests the backlash against Lindbergh highlights "the explosiveness of mixing ethnic politics with foreign policy." [150] Lindbergh always preached military strength and alertness. [151] [152] He believed that a strong defensive war machine would make America an impenetrable fortress and defend the Western Hemisphere from an attack by foreign powers, and that this was the U.S. military's sole purpose. [153] Berg reveals that while the attack on Pearl Harbor came as a shock to Lindbergh, he did predict that America's "wavering policy in the Philippines" would invite a bloody war there, and, in one speech, he warned that "we should either fortify these islands adequately, or get out of them entirely." [138] World War II After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , Lindbergh sought to be recommissioned in the USAAF. The Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson , declined the request on instructions from the White House. [154] VMF-222 "Flying Deuces" Unable to take on an active military role, Lindbergh approached a number of aviation companies, offering his services as a consultant.

As a technical adviser with Ford in 1942, he was heavily involved in troubleshooting early problems encountered at the Willow Run Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber production line. As B-24 production smoothed out, he joined United Aircraft in 1943 as an engineering consultant, devoting most of his time to its Chance-Vought Division . The following year, he persuaded United Aircraft to designate him a technical representative in the Pacific Theater of Operations to study aircraft performances under combat conditions. He showed Marine Vought F4U Corsair pilots how to take off with twice the bomb load than the fighter-bomber was rated for and on May 21, 1944, he flew his first combat mission: a strafing run with VMF-222 near the Japanese garrison of Rabaul, in the Australian Territory of New Guinea. [155] He was also flying with VMF-216 (first squadron there) during this period from the Marine Air Base at Torokina, Bougainville Australian Solomon Islands. Several Marine squadrons were flying bomber escorts to destroy the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul. His first flight was escorted by Lt. Robert E.

(Lefty) McDonough. It was understood that Lefty refused to fly with him again, as he did not want to be known as "the guy who killed Lindbergh." [155] 433rd Fighter Squadron "Satan's Angels" In his six months in the Pacific in 1944, Lindbergh took part in fighter bomber raids on Japanese positions, flying about 50 combat missions (again as a civilian). His innovations in the use of Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters impressed a supportive Gen. Douglas MacArthur . [156] Lindbergh introduced engine-leaning techniques to P-38 pilots, greatly improving fuel consumption at cruise speeds, enabling the long-range fighter aircraft to fly longer range missions. The U.S. Marine and Army Air Force pilots who served with Lindbergh praised his courage and defended his patriotism.

[155] On July 28, 1944, during a P-38 bomber escort mission with the 433rd Fighter Squadron, 475th Fighter Group, Fifth Air Force, in the Ceram area, Lindbergh shot down a Sonia observation plane piloted by Captain Saburo Shimada, Commanding Officer of the 73rd Independent Chutai. [155] [157] After the war, while touring the Nazi concentration camps , Lindbergh wrote in his autobiography that he was disgusted and angered. [N 7] Later life Edit After World War II, Lindbergh lived in Darien, Connecticut and served as a consultant to the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force and to Pan American World Airways. With most of Eastern Europe having fallen under Communist control, Lindbergh believed most of his pre-war assessments were correct all along. But Berg reports after witnessing the defeat of Germany and the Holocaust firsthand shortly after his service in the Pacific, "he knew the American public no longer gave a hoot about his opinions." In 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower restored Lindbergh's assignment with the U.S.

Air Force and made him a Brigadier General . In that year, he served on the Congressional advisory panel set up to establish the site of the United States Air Force Academy . In December 1968, he visited the crew of Apollo 8 (the first manned spaceflight to travel to the Moon) the day before their launch. On July 16, 1969, Lindbergh and T. Claude Ryan (previous owner of the Ryan Flying Company that built the Spirit of St. Louis aircraft) were present at Cape Canaveral to watch the launch of Apollo 11. [159] Lindbergh later wrote the foreword for Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins 's autobiography, Carrying the Fire. Environmental causes Edit From the 1960s on, Lindbergh campaigned to protect endangered species like humpback and blue whales , was instrumental in establishing protections for the controversial [160] Filipino group, the Tasaday , and African tribes, and supporting the establishment of a national park. While studying the native flora and fauna of the Philippines, he became involved in efforts to protect the Philippine Eagle and the Tamaraw , a rare dwarf buffalo on Mindoro Island.

Lindbergh's speeches and writings later in life emphasized his love of both technology and nature, and a lifelong belief that "all the achievements of mankind have value only to the extent that they preserve and improve the quality of life." Lindbergh's final book, Autobiography of Values, based on an unfinished manuscript was published posthumously. While on his death bed, he had contacted his friend, William Jovanovich , head of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich , to edit the lengthy memoirs. [161] Death Edit Lindbergh's grave Lindbergh spent his final years on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where he died of lymphoma [162] on August 26, 1974, at age 72. He was buried on the grounds of the Palapala Ho'omau Church in Kipahulu , Maui. His epitaph on a simple stone that quotes Psalms 139:9, reads: "Charles A. Lindbergh Born Michigan 1902 Died Maui 1974". The inscription further reads: "... If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ...

C.A.L." [163] Honors and tributes Official Royal Air Force Museum Medal (UK) Fédération Aéronautique Internationale FAI Gold Medal (1927) ICAO Edward Warner Award [176] Medal of Honor Edit Lindbergh's Medal of Honor Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve. Place and date: From New York City to Paris, France, May 20–21, 1927. Entered service at: Little Falls, Minn. Born: February 4, 1902, Detroit, Mich. G.O. No.: 5, W.D., 1928; Act of Congress December 14, 1927. [N 8] Citation: "For displaying heroic courage and skill as a navigator, at the risk of his life, by his nonstop flight in his airplane, the "Spirit of St. Louis", from New York City to Paris, France, 20–21 May 1927, by which Capt.

Lindbergh not only achieved the greatest individual triumph of any American citizen but demonstrated that travel across the ocean by aircraft was possible". [180] Popular culture Edit Verdensberømtheder i København (1939) [187] was a Danish short subject produced by the Dansk Film Co. [188] in which Charles Lindbergh as well as Hollywood actors Robert Taylor, Myrna Loy , and Edward G. Robinson all appeared as themselves. The 1938 Paramount film Men with Wings ( Fred MacMurray , Ray Milland ) featured a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis fashioned from a Ryan B-1 "Brougham" [189] similar to one presented to Lindbergh by the manufacturer, the Mahoney Aircraft Corporation, shortly after the Spirit was retired in April 1928. [190] The 1942 MGM picture Keeper of the Flame ( Katharine Hepburn , Spencer Tracy ) features Hepburn as the widow of Robert V.

Forrest, a "Lindbergh-like" national hero, [191] who was exposed after his death as a secret fascist intending to use his influence—especially over America's youth—to turn the country into a fascist state and eliminate those he deemed as inferior races. Edit Scott C-10 and #1710 with May 20, 1977 First Day of Issue CDS Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit have been honored by a variety of world postage stamps over the last eight decades, including three issued by the United States. Less than three weeks after the flight the U.S. Post Office Department issued a 10-cent "Lindbergh Air Mail" stamp (Scott C-10) on June 11, 1927, with engraved illustrations of both the Spirit of St. Louis and a map of its route from New York to Paris. This was also the first U.S. stamp to bear the name of a living person.

[201] A half-century later, a 13-Cent commemorative stamp (Scott #1710) depicting the Spirit flying low over the Atlantic Ocean was issued on May 20, 1977, the 50th anniversary of the flight from Roosevelt Field . [202] On May 28, 1998, a 32¢ stamp with the legend "Lindbergh Flies Atlantic" (Scott #3184m) depicting Lindbergh and the "Spirit" was issued as part of the Celebrate the Century stamp sheet series. [203] See also Charles A. Lindbergh - Biography - IMDb Charles A. Lindbergh Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trivia (21) | Personal Quotes (2) Overview (5) 6' 3" (1.91 m) Mini Bio (1) Charles A. Lindbergh was born on February 4, 1902 in Detroit, Michigan, USA as Charles Augustus Lindbergh. He is known for his work on The Spirit of St.

Louis (1957), Verdensberømtheder i København (1939) and Charles A. Lindbergh (1927). He was married to Anne Morrow Lindbergh . He died on August 26, 1974 in Kipahulu, Maui, Hawaii, USA. Spouse (1) ( 27 May 1929 - 26 August 1974) (his death) (6 children) Trivia (21) Born at 2:30am-CST From the mid-1950s he was a consultant and director of Pan-American Airways. 1954: Named a brigadier general in the United States Air Force Reserves for his long-term service to the U.S. government. A life-long abstainer from tobacco and alcohol. 1928: Named Time Magazine's "Man of the Year". Children, with Anne Morrow Lindbergh : Charles Lindbergh Jr. (b. 1931), Jon Lindbergh (b. 1932), Land (b. 1937), Anne (b. 1940), Scott (b.

1942) and Reeve Lindbergh (b. 1945). 1927: He became the first pilot to fly an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris. The race to cross the Atlantic had been attempted by the best pilots of the time, most of whom had made names for themselves during World War I. One of them was Richard E. Byrd Jr. (who was later the first man to fly over the South Pole). With that competition, Lindbergh was seen as an outsider, and he had problems getting financial backing and a plane. He finally got money from a small company in St. Louis, MO, which named his plane "The Spirit of St. Louis" for the publicity. What separated Lindbergh from his competition was that he was the only pilot in the running who was going to fly a single-engine plane and the only pilot who was willing to fly alone. One of the chief reasons for his success was that most of his competition has either crashed or had mechanical or financial problems. Eldest son Charles Lindbergh Jr. is the famous "Lindbergh baby". He was kidnapped and murdered in 1932.

German immigrant Bruno Richard Hauptmann was tried, convicted and executed for the crime. This story inspired British author Agatha Christie for a murder mystery novel brought to the screen as Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Other deceased family members include daughter Anne Spencer Lindbergh (d. 1993) and wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh (d. 2001). Related to Swedish actor Thomaz Ransmyr . 5/28/98: Pictured on one of 15 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps in the "Celebrate the Century" series, celebrating the 1920s. During World War II, Lindbergh rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army Air Corps and in 1948, when the AAC separated from the army to become the US Air Force, he went along and kept that same rank. During WWII Lindbergh specifically requested Pacific Theather assignments only, since he had been a strong and vocal supporter and admirer of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

1976: Pictured on a commemorative 50¢ postage label issued by the (now defunct) Independent Postal System of America. 5/4/28: Awarded a Congressional Gold Medal (45 Stat. 490). October 1938: In one of many visits to Nazi Germany, Lindbergh received the Service Cross of the German Eagle (Verdienstkreuz der Deutscher Adler). This is the second highest award the Reich could bestow on a foreigner (only Henry Ford , another admirer of Nazi Germany, was awarded a higher-ranking medal). Had three children with German hat maker Brigitte Hesshaimer: Dirk (born 1958), Astrid (born 1960) and David (born 1967). They managed to keep the affair secret, until Astrid disclosed it in 2003, two years after both Ms Hesshaimer and Mrs Lindbergh had died. DNA tests have confirmed the truth of these assertions. His record-setting flight over the Atlantic Ocean failed to make the cover of Time Magazine in 1927.

Later that year, seeking to fill in a slow news week and make up for missing the story earlier, the editors of Time created their "Man of the Year" honorific, devoting an entire issue to how influential the flight was, and making Lindy himself the first person ever to receive that title. In 1927, just prior to his historic flight, Lindbergh was nearly grounded by William P. MacCracken, Jr., a government aeronautics official. Lindbergh had been engaging in barnstorming and daredevil flights in government planes, and had actually wrecked several of them. Only after Lindbergh's supervisor promised to restrain his behavior did MacCracken relent and allow Lindbergh to make his historic flight. During his 1938 visit to Germany, Reich Air Marshall Hermann Goering took Lindbergh and several other passengers on a flight aboard a new passenger plane. While airborne, Goering turned the controls over to Lindbergh, who was quite flattered. Prior to Pearl Harbor, Lindbergh outraged the American public by advocating America's entry into World War II on the side of Nazi Germany.

When Lindbergh landed in France after his historic flight, one of the first reporters to reach him was William Shirer. He strongly opposed the United States siding with the British Empire with Lend-Lease, and warned that the Japanese were likely to be provoked into attacking the US-occupied Philippines. Some of his public statements on Jews were considered anti-Semitic. Personal Quotes (2) [in a letter to Apollo 11 Commander Michael Collins ] The ground shook and my chest was beating as though bombs were falling nearby. It seemed impossible for life to exist while carrying that fire. What a fantastic experience it must have been-the first man alone looking down on another celestial body, like a god of space! [Lindbergh, an isolationist, replying to a question about the US accommodating Adolf Hitler rather than standing up to him] {it} could maintain peace and civilization throughout the world as far into the future as we can see. See also Charles Lindbergh - World Famous Aviator Charles Lindbergh The Most Famous Aviator in History American aviator Charles Lindbergh (July 21, 1925).

(Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images) By Patricia Daniels, Contributing Writer Updated April 27, 2016. Who Was Charles Lindbergh? Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight on May 21, 1927. This 33-hour trip from New York to Paris forever changed Lindbergh's life and the future of aviation. Hailed as a hero, the shy, young pilot from Minnesota was unwillingly thrust into the public eye. Lindbergh's unwelcome fame would later haunt him when his infant son was kidnapped for ransom and killed in 1932. Dates: February 4, 1902 -- August 26, 1974 Also Known As: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Lucky Lindy, The Lone Eagle Childhood in Minnesota Charles Augustus Lindbergh was born at the home of his maternal grandparents on February 4, 1902 in Detroit, Michigan to Evangeline Land and Charles August Lindbergh. When Charles was five weeks old, he and his mother moved back to their home in Little Falls, Minnesota.

He was the only child the Lindberghs would have, although Charles Lindbergh Sr. had two older daughters from a previous marriage. continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States C.A., as Lindbergh's father was known, was a successful lawyer in Little Falls. He had been born in Sweden and immigrated with his parents to Minnesota in 1859. Lindbergh's mother, a well-educated woman from a wealthy Detroit family, was a former science teacher. When Lindbergh was only three years old, the family home, newly-built and located on the banks of the Mississippi River, burned to the ground. The cause of the fire was never determined. The Lindberghs replaced it with a smaller house on the same site. Lindbergh the Traveler In 1906, C.A. ran for U.S. Congress and won. His victory meant that his son and wife were displaced, moving to Washington, D.C. while Congress was in session. This resulted in young Lindbergh changing schools frequently and never forming lasting friendships as a child. Lindbergh was quiet and shy even as an adult.

The Lindbergh marriage also suffered from the constant upheaval, but divorce was considered detrimental to a politician's reputation. Charles and his mother lived in a separate apartment from his father in Washington. C.A. bought the family's first car when Charles was ten years old. Although barely able to reach the pedals, young Lindbergh was soon able to drive the car. He also proved himself a natural mechanic and repaired and maintained the car. In 1916, when C.A. ran for re-election, his 14-year-old son drove him across the state of Minnesota for his campaign tour. Taking Flight During World War I , Lindbergh, too young to enlist, became captivated by flying after reading of the exploits of fighter pilots in Europe. When Lindbergh turned 18, the war was already over, so he entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison to study engineering. His mother accompanied Lindbergh to Madison and the two shared an apartment off campus. Bored by the academic life and failing most of his courses, Lindbergh left the university after only three semesters. He enrolled in flight school in Nebraska in April 1922.

Lindbergh quickly learned to pilot a plane and later went on barnstorming tours throughout the mid-west. These were exhibitions in which pilots performed dangerous maneuvers in the air. Once they had gained the attention of a crowd, the pilots made money by taking passengers on short sightseeing tours. U.S. Army and the Postal Service Eager to fly more sophisticated airplanes, Lindbergh enlisted in the U.S. Army as an air cadet. After one year of intensive training, he graduated in March 1925 as a second lieutenant. Lindbergh's father did not live to see his son graduate. C.A. died of a brain tumor in May 1924. Because there was little need for Army pilots during peacetime, Lindbergh sought employment elsewhere. He was hired by a commercial aircraft company to pilot airmail routes for the U.S. government, which would begin airmail service for the first time in 1926. Lindbergh was proud of his role in the new mail delivery system, but did not have confidence in the flimsy, unreliable planes that were used for airmail service.

The Race for the Ortieg Prize American hotelier Raymond Orteig, who had been born in France, looked forward to a day when the United States and France would be linked by aviation. In an effort to facilitate that connection, Orteig proposed a challenge. He would pay $25,000 to the first pilot who could fly nonstop between New York and Paris. The large monetary prize attracted several pilots, but all of the early attempts failed, some ending in injury and even death. Lindbergh gave serious thought to Ortieg's challenge. He analyzed data from the previous failures and determined that the key to success was an aircraft that was as light as possible, using a single engine and carrying only one pilot. The plane he envisioned would have to be designed and built to Lindbergh's specifications. He began the search for investors. The Spirit of St. Louis After repeated disappointments, Lindbergh finally found backing for his venture. A group of St. Louis businessmen agreed to pay for the plane to be built and even provided Lindbergh with its name -- Spirit of St. Louis. Work began on his plane in California in March 1927.

Lindbergh was anxious for the plane to be completed; he knew that many competitors were also preparing to attempt a transatlantic flight. The plane was finished in two months at a cost of about $10,000. As Lindbergh was preparing to leave San Diego to fly his plane to New York, he received the news that two French pilots had attempted the flight from Paris to New York on May 8. After take-off, the two were never seen again. Lindbergh's Historic Flight On May 20, 1927, Lindbergh took off from Long Island, New York at 7:52 a.m. After a night of heavy rain, the weather had cleared. Lindbergh seized the opportunity. A crowd of 500 spectators cheered him on as he lifted off. To keep the plane as light as possible, Lindbergh flew without a radio, navigational lights, gas gauges, or parachutes. He carried only a compass, a sextant, his maps of the area, and several fuel tanks. He had even replaced the pilot's chair with a lightweight wicker seat. Lindbergh flew through several storms in the North Atlantic.

When darkness fell and exhaustion set in, Lindbergh brought the plane up to a higher elevation so that he could see the stars, keeping himself oriented. As fatigue swept over him, he stamped his feet, sang aloud, and even slapped his own face. After flying through the night and the following day, Lindbergh finally spotted fishing boats and Ireland's rugged coastline. He had made it to Europe. At 10:24 p.m. on May 21, 1927, Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Airport in Paris and was stunned to find 150,000 people waiting to celebrate his remarkable accomplishment. Thirty-three and a half hours had passed since he had taken off from New York. The Hero Returns Lindbergh climbed out of the plane and was immediately swept up by the crowd and carried away. He was soon rescued and his plane secured, but only after spectators had torn pieces from the fuselage for souvenirs. Lindbergh was celebrated and honored throughout Europe. He sailed home in June, arriving in Washington D.C. Lindbergh was honored with a parade and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by President Coolidge.

He was also promoted to the rank of colonel in the Officer's Reserve Corps. That celebration was followed by four days of festivities in New York City, including a ticker tape parade. Lindbergh met Raymond Ortieg and was presented with his $25,000 check. Lindbergh Meets Anne Morrow The media followed Lindbergh's every move. Uncomfortable in the spotlight, Lindbergh sought refuge in the only place he could be alone -- the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis. He toured the U.S., landing in each of the 48 continental states. Extending his tour into Latin America, Lindbergh met with American ambassador Dwight Morrow in Mexico City. He spent Christmas 1927 with the Morrow family, becoming acquainted with Morrow's 21-year old daughter, Anne. The two became close, spending time together over the next year as Lindbergh taught Anne how to fly. They married on May 27, 1929. The Lindberghs made several important flights together and collected critical information that would help to plot international flight routes.

They set a record for flying across the United States in just over 14 hours and were the first aviators to fly from America to China. Parenthood, Then Tragedy The Lindberghs became parents on June 22, 1930 with the birth of Charles, Jr. Seeking privacy, they bought a home in a secluded part of Hopewell, New Jersey. On the evening of February 28, 1932, 20-month-old Charles was kidnapped from his crib. Police found a ladder outside the nursery window and a ransom note in the child's room. The kidnapper demanded $50,000 for the return of the child. The ransom was paid, but the Lindbergh child was not returned to his parents. In May 1932, the baby's body was found a few miles from the family home. Investigators concluded that the kidnapper had dropped the baby while descending the ladder on the night of the abduction, killing him instantly. After more than two years, an arrest was made. German immigrant Bruno Richard Hauptmann was tried and convicted in what was called "the crime of the century." He was executed in April 1936.

The Lindberghs' second son Jon was born in August 1932. Unable to avoid constant public scrutiny and fearing for the safety of their second son, the Lindberghs left the country, moving to England in 1935. The Lindbergh family grew to include two daughters and two more sons. Lindbergh Visits Germany In 1936, Lindbergh was invited by high-ranking Nazi official Hermann Goering to visit his country for a tour of its aircraft facilities. Impressed by what he saw, Lindbergh -- possibly overstating Germany's military assets -- reported that Germany's air power was far superior to that of other European nations. Lindbergh's reports worried European leaders and might have contributed to British and French policies of appeasement to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler early in the war. On a return visit to Germany in 1938, Lindbergh received the German Service Cross from Goering and was photographed wearing it. The public reaction was one of outrage that Lindbergh had accepted an award from the Nazi regime. Fallen Hero With war in Europe looming, the Lindberghs returned to the U.S. in spring of 1939.

Colonel Lindbergh was pressed into duty inspecting aircraft manufacturing facilities across the U.S. Lindbergh began speaking out publicly on the war in Europe. He was opposed to any American involvement in the war, which he viewed as a battle for balance of power in Europe. One speech in particular, given in 1941, was widely criticized as anti-Semitic and racist. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, even Lindbergh had to concede that Americans had no choice but to enter the war. He volunteered to serve as an aviator during World War II , but President Franklin Roosevelt refused his offer. Return to Grace Lindbergh used his expertise to provide help in the private sector, consulting on the production of B-24 bombers and Corsair fighter planes. He went to the South Pacific as a civilian to train pilots and provide technical assistance. Later, with the approval of General Douglas MacArthur , Lindbergh took part in bombing runs on Japanese bases, flying 50 missions over a four-month period. In 1954, Lindbergh was honored with the rank of brigadier general. The same year, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir The Spirit of St. Louis.

Lindbergh became involved in environmental causes later in life and was the spokesman for both the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy. He lobbied against the production of supersonic passenger jets, citing the noise and air pollution they created. Diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1972, Lindbergh chose to live out his remaining days at his home in Maui. He died on August 26, 1974 and was buried in Hawaii in a simple ceremony.

Question: What was the highest rank Charles Lindbergh attained?
Answer: Brigadier General